If you're in the market for a TJ roll cage, it's a good idea to take a few minutes and consider what you want it to do for you. Personally, I opted for a cage that didn't block any of the natural creature comforts of my TJ like the window cranks and heater vents. I also wanted a cage to be functional.

Since I don't have a welder readily available nor have the time to fab one during my busy schedule, the costs had to be reasonable, which ruled out most custom fabricated cages. To cut some costs without cutting corners, I'd be willing to paint the cage and install it.

The OR-Fab Sport Cage has a sleek and OEM-look to it, while adding greater integrity to the overall safety of the Jeep. Protect your investment!

O-R Fab was the only company I felt that truly stepped up to the plate and met all of my criteria. The O-R Fab kit is by far the most complete kit out there. It has several affordable optional parts that serve a real purpose and aren't there for looks alone. Many different companies have molded their kits after the ground breaking work done by O-R Fab, but none have yet to achieve the same level of ingenuity and quality.

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The install of this kit was pretty straight forward and only took me about 2 hours for the basic cage, and another 2 for the optional parts that I did on a separate day. I don't see a great need for a complete step by step install on here as it is pretty straight forward, and you can get the full instructions from the O-R Fab website if you wish. I will however let you in on some of the interesting things I noticed while installing this kit that surprised me and give you some overall impressions.

To start the install, you simply remove the factory windshield mounted bars and then start installing the new cage. I found it much easier to just take off the hard top and fold down the windshield for the install, but in their instructions they show you a way to install the cage without doing any of that. However, be prepared to take a little longer for the install if you do keep the top on and the windshield up. I guess I am still surprised you could do this kind of install without disassembling the Jeep, but thats half the fun.

The main cage kit itself is very quick and a complete bolt in install. However, if you buy the optional floor mount and or streamer bars, you will be doing some light drilling. I highly recommend the floor mount kit as it not only helps greatly in the strength of the cage, but actually helps with the alignment of all the parts. The floor mount aligns the rest of the cage even better than just the cage itself does. Just the cage itself aligned well enough for the hard top to fit fine, but the soft top was a little tighter than before with just the cage installed. No big deal, as I am sure the top would have stretched a little over time to fit, but the floor mount however, made the soft top fit like factory again. Apparently there are some really tight tolerances that O-R Fab had to design around, but they did a good job.

The floor mount is a piece of engineering that has earned a closer look. The floor mount has 2 pieces for each side. One part of it is the main piece that bolts to the floor and has a new door latch strap holder welded on to it. The second part is a plate that goes in behind the dash mounting bolts. The normal cage kit just reuses the factory dash mount bolts, but the floor mount has you drill out those factory holes and through-bolt the new back plate down the dash and into the main floor mount. This essentially creates a 1/2 inch steel plate all the way down the dash and to the floor as you are sandwiching the O-R fab cage with the new backing plate in between your factory dash. It just doesn't get stronger than that. I found the drilling to be pretty easy going, myself. The floor mount then bolts through your drain plug. I also hear O-R Fab is getting ready to release a set of rocker panels that will allow you to tie in to your floor mount very soon. Now we're talking some serious strength.

The streamer bars are useful for anyone who is thinking of making an overhead console or just wants extra protection overhead. They require some minor drilling as well, but are well worth it. Plus, they leave you with options for latter. They are some what adjustable in length and like the rest of the cage, have been given a nice black powder coating.

Overall, the cage was an easy install. Its of very high quality and appears to be more than up to the challenge of a roll. I have heard of some people who have rolled on their OR Fab cages and they say it held up very well. I'm not surprised there. The parts actually fit very well and as I said before, even better with the floor mount. I thought I might have problems with aligning the windshield back up to the hard or soft top mounts, but that wasn't at all a problem. I feel that it actually took some serious skills to jig up a cage like this, weld it, and make it fit so well for a bolt in install. I noticed this type of craftsmanship from O-R Fab before when I installed their Tire Carrier as well. The cage has been in for a week now, and I really like how it just blends into the interior so very well and doesn't block a thing. You truly don't notice its even there after a while. However, when you take down the windshield, it still has a clean racing/rockbuggy look to it. You just can't beat that.

Take a look at the photo gallery and I am fairly certain if you have any other questionable areas to the cage, I probably took a clean photo of it to help explain it.

O-R Fab also makes a Christmas List of other goodies that you can check out on their web site. And be sure to check out their new products section while you're there. I hear there is a new steering system in the works for TJs, a tire carrier for YJs, and some nifty rockers for TJs as well.

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